Image capturing apparatus and control method thereof

ABSTRACT

An image capturing apparatus comprises a light emitting unit which provides, by light emission, a notification of an operation status of a self-timer when performing self-timer shooting; a mode setting unit which sets one of a plurality of operation modes; and a control unit which controls the light emitting unit to provide the notification of the operation status of the self-timer in self-timer shooting if the mode setting unit has set a first operation mode, and controls the light emitting unit not to provide the notification of the operation status of the self-timer in self timer shooting if the mode setting unit has set a second operation mode.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 15/597,390,filed May 17, 2017, which is a divisional of application Ser. No.14/463,209, filed Aug. 19, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,712,756, the entiredisclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a shooting notification technique atthe time of shooting in a dark place.

Description of the Related Art

In recent years, along with improvement of the sensitivity of an imagecapturing apparatus, a wide variety of scenes are shot. It is desired toimplement a function of enabling a wide spectrum of users to readilyshoot a special scene such as a starry sky which could not be readilyshot with a conventional technique.

At the time of shooting in a dark place such as the starry sky, aself-timer shooting is used to prevent camera shake. The purposes of aself-timer itself are to shoot people in a group photo and to preventcamera shake, as described above.

As for such shooting method using the self-timer, Japanese PatentLaid-Open No. 2011-091792 proposes a method of starting self-timershooting when the number of detected faces increases. Japanese PatentLaid-Open No. 2012-198564 proposes a method of starting to count aself-timer when a specific person enters a shooting range. On the otherhand, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-178201 proposes a method forchanging the light emission luminance of an LED or the like to clearlynotify the user of the start of self-timer shooting even if the ambientenvironment is bright.

In self-timer shooting, providing a notification of a shooting timing toan object by turning on an LED or the like is an important function inthe case of shooting a person. For the purpose of camera shakeprevention, however, it is unnecessary to turn on the LED. In, forexample, nature photography in which fireflies or the like are shot, LEDlight emission may become obstructive.

The technique described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-091792 isan effective method for shooting a group photo including a photographerhimself/herself, but providing a notification of a shooting timing to anobject is not mentioned. Furthermore, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.2012-198564 describes a case in which the LED or the like is used toprovide a notification that the photographer himself/herself has enteredthe shooting range when performing self-portrait photography, but doesnot mention a shooting notification method when performing self-timershooting for the purpose of camera shake prevention at the time ofshooting in a dark place. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-178201relates to the LED light emission control at the time of self-timershooting of a high-luminance scene in which the ambient environment isbright, and does not consider shooting in a dark place.

There is an increasing need to readily take a commemorative pictureagainst the backdrop of the starry sky.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-160492 proposes a method in which at thetime of slow synchronization shooting of a person at night, a nightscapeis shot first by long-exposure shooting and then a person is shot bycausing an electronic flash to emit light. Furthermore, Japanese PatentNo. 4892434 proposes a method in which if, among shutter sounds (“cli”and “ck” of a click), the second sound effect (“ck”) in synchronism withthe end of a previous shooting operation is being output at the start ofa shooting operation, the first sound effect (“cli”) in synchronism withthe start of the shooting operation is not output, or the second soundeffect is stopped.

However, in the method of separately shooting a person and nightscape,as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-160492, it is difficultfor an object to understand a shooting time. In the method of providinga notification of an exposure period to the user by the shutter sounds,as described in Japanese Patent No. 4892434, an object away from acamera may not hear the sounds. Alternatively, if a silence setting isON, no sound is output. Therefore, it may be difficult for the object tograsp when shooting is performed. If the object cannot recognize ashooting timing, he/she cannot know how long he/she should pose withinthe shooting range.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made in consideration of theaforementioned problems, and realizes a technique capable of avoidingunnecessary light emission at the time of shooing.

The present invention has been made in consideration of theaforementioned problems, and realizes a technique capable ofappropriately providing a notification of a shooting operation to theuser when continuously performing shooting a plurality of times.

In order to solve the aforementioned problems, the present inventionprovides an image capturing apparatus comprising: a light emitting unitconfigured to provide, by light emission, a notification of an operationstatus of a self-timer when performing self-timer shooting; a modesetting unit configured to set one of a plurality of operation modes;and a control unit configured to control the light emitting unit toprovide the notification of the operation status of the self-timer inself-timer shooting if the mode setting unit has set a first operationmode, and to control the light emitting unit not to provide thenotification of the operation status of the self-timer in self timershooting if the mode setting unit has set a second operation mode.

In order to solve the aforementioned problems, the present inventionprovides an image capturing apparatus comprising: a light emitting unitconfigured to provide, by light emission, a notification of an operationstatus of a self-timer when performing self-timer shooting; an objectdetection unit configured to detect a specific object from a capturedimage; and a control unit configured to control, if the object detectionunit has detected the specific object, the light emitting unit toprovide the notification of the operation status of the self-timer whenperforming self-timer shooting, and to control, if the object detectionunit has not detected the specific object, the light emitting unit notto provide the notification of the operation status of the self-timerwhen performing self-timer shooting.

In order to solve the aforementioned problems, the present inventionprovides an image capturing apparatus comprising: a time setting unitconfigured to set a time of a self-timer in self-timer shooting; a lightemitting unit configured to provide, by light emission, a notificationof an operation status of the self-timer when performing self-timershooting; and a control unit configured to control, if the time of theself-timer set by the time setting unit is not shorter than apredetermined time, the light emitting unit to provide the notificationof the operation status of the self-timer when performing self-timershooting, and to control, if the time of the self-timer set by the timesetting unit is shorter than the predetermined time, the light emittingunit not to provide the notification of the operation status of theself-timer when performing self-timer shooting.

In order to solve the aforementioned problems, the present inventionprovides a control method of an image capturing apparatus having a lightemitting unit for providing, by light emission, a notification of anoperation status of a self-timer when performing self-timer shooting,and a mode setting unit for setting one of a plurality of operationmodes, the method comprising: a control step of controlling the lightemitting unit to provide the notification of the operation status of theself-timer in self-timer shooting if the mode setting unit has set afirst operation mode, and controlling the light emitting unit not toprovide the notification of the operation status of the self-timer inself timer shooting if the mode setting unit has set a second operationmode.

In order to solve the aforementioned problems, the present inventionprovides a control method of an image capturing apparatus having a lightemitting unit configured to provide, by light emission, a notificationof an operation status of a self-timer when performing self-timershooting, and an object detection unit configured to detect a specificobject from a captured image, the method comprising: a control step ofcontrolling, if the object detection unit has detected the specificobject, the light emitting unit to provide the notification of theoperation status of the self-timer when performing self-timer shooting,and controlling, if the object detection unit has not detected thespecific object, the light emitting unit not to provide the notificationof the operation status of the self-timer when performing self-timershooting.

In order to solve the aforementioned problems, the present inventionprovides a control method of an image capturing apparatus having a timesetting unit configured to set a time of a self-timer in self-timershooting, and a light emitting unit configured to provide, by lightemission, a notification of an operation status of the self-timer whenperforming self-timer shooting, the method comprising: a control step ofcontrolling, if the time of the self-timer set by the time setting unitis not shorter than a predetermined time, the light emitting unit toprovide the notification of the operation status of the self-timer whenperforming self-timer shooting, and controlling, if the time of theself-timer set by the time setting unit is shorter than thepredetermined time, the light emitting unit not to provide thenotification of the operation status of the self-timer when performingself-timer shooting.

In order to solve the aforementioned problems, the present inventionprovides an image capturing apparatus comprising: a notification unitconfigured to provide a notification of an operation status; a shootingcontrol unit configured to control to perform a series of shootingoperations including at least a first shooting operation for shooting aperson and a second shooting operation for shooting a background; and acontrol unit configured to control the notification unit not to providethe notification at the end of a shooting operation which is not a lastshooting operation of the series of shooting operations, and to controlthe notification unit to provide the notification after the end of thelast shooting operation of the series of shooting operations.

In order to solve the aforementioned problems, the present inventionprovides a control method of an image capturing apparatus having anotification unit for providing a notification of an operation status,the method comprising: a shooting control step of controlling to performa series of shooting operations including at least a first shootingoperation for shooting a person and a second shooting operation forshooting a background; and a control step of controlling thenotification unit not to provide the notification at the end of ashooting operation which is not a last shooting operation of the seriesof shooting operations, and of controlling the notification unit toprovide the notification after the end of the last shooting operation ofthe series of shooting operations.

According to the present invention, it is possible to avoid unnecessarylight emission at the time of shooting.

Further features of the present invention will become apparent from thefollowing description of embodiments (with reference to the attacheddrawings).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a view showing the outer appearance of an image capturingapparatus according to an embodiment when viewed from the back;

FIG. 1B is a view showing the outer appearance of the image capturingapparatus according to the embodiment when viewed from the front;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the imagecapturing apparatus according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating starry sky mode selection processingaccording to the embodiment;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are views each exemplifying a starry sky mode selectionscreen according to the embodiment;

FIGS. 5A to 5D are flowcharts illustrating shooting processing in astarry sky snap mode according to the embodiment;

FIGS. 6A to 6G are views each showing a display example of a screen inthe starry sky snap mode according to the embodiment;

FIGS. 7A to 7C are flowcharts illustrating shooting processing in a StarNightscape mode according to the embodiment;

FIGS. 8A to 8D are flowcharts illustrating shooting processing in a startrail mode according to the embodiment; and

FIGS. 9A to 9C are views each showing a display example of a screen inthe star trail mode according to the embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail belowwith reference to the accompanying drawings.

<Apparatus configuration> Reference will be made to FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 2to describe the functions and external appearance of an image capturingapparatus (a digital camera is taken as an example thereof in thisembodiment) according to this embodiment to which the present inventionis applied.

In FIGS. 1A and 1B, which show an external appearance of a digitalcamera 100 according to the present embodiment, a display unit 101displays images and various information. A shutter-release button 102 isan operation unit for shooting. A mode switching button 103 is anoperation unit for changing among various modes. A connector 107 is aninterface that connects a connection cable 108 with the digital camera100. Operation units 104 comprise operation members such as variousswitches, buttons and a touch panel operated in various ways by theuser. A controller wheel 106 is a rotatable operation member includedamong the operation units 104. A power switch 105 switches between poweron and power off. A recording medium 109 is a medium such as a memorycard or hard disk. A recording medium slot 110 is for accommodating therecording medium 109. The recording medium 109 accommodated in therecording medium slot 110 makes it possible to communicate with thedigital camera 100. A cover 111 covers the recording medium slot 110.

A light emitting unit 112 is formed by an LED (Light Emitting Diode) andthe like, and provides a notification of the operation status (forexample, a status in which the count-down operation of a self-timer isin progress, or the start/end of shooting) of the digital camera 100 toan object existing in front of the camera by a predetermined lightemission/non-light emission pattern. The light emitting unit 112 isarranged on the front surface (object side or image capturing surfaceside) of the camera so as to be visually perceived from the object side.An electronic flash 113 includes a retractable flash device whichflashes to illuminate the object, and is displaced from a storage(non-use) status (FIG. 1A) to an exposure (use) status (FIG. 1B) inresponse to a user operation, or is automatically displaced in a programAE mode.

In FIG. 2 which shows an internal configuration of a digital camera 100according to the present embodiment, a photographing lens 203 includes azoom lens and a focusing lens. A shutter 204 has a diaphragm function.An image capturing unit 205 is an image sensor, which is constituted bya CCD or CMOS or the like, for converting the optical image of a subjectto an electric signal. An A/D converter 206 converts an analog signal toa digital signal. The A/D converter 206 is used to convert an analogsignal, which is output from the image capturing unit 205, to a digitalsignal. A barrier 202 covers the image capturing system (which includesthe photographing lens 203) of the digital camera 100, therebypreventing contamination of and damage to the image capturing systemthat includes the photographing lens 203, shutter 204 and imagecapturing unit 205.

An image processing unit 207 performs resizing processing, such aspredetermined pixel interpolation and reduction, and color conversionprocessing, with respect to data from the A/D converter 206 or data froma memory control unit 209. Further, the image processing unit 207performs predetermined calculation processing using the captured imagedata, and the system control unit 201 performs exposure control anddistance measuring control based on the calculation results. Thus, AF(Automatic Focus) processing, AE (Automatic Exposure) processing, and EF(flash pre-emission) processing of TTL (Through the Lens) type areperformed. Furthermore, the image processing unit 207 performspredetermined calculation processing using the captured image data, andAWB (Automatic White Balance) processing of TTL type is performed on thebasis of the calculation results.

The data from the A/D converter 206 is directly written into a memory210 via both the image processing unit 207 and the memory control unit209 or via the memory control unit 207. The memory 210 stores the imagedata obtained from the image capturing unit 205 and the A/D converter206, and image display data to be displayed on the display unit 101. Thememory 210 has a storage capacity that is sufficient for storing apredetermined number of still images as well as moving images and audiofor a predetermined time period.

The memory 210 also functions as a memory for image display (videomemory). A D/A converter 208 converts the image display data stored inthe memory 210 into an analog signal and supplies the display unit 101with the analog signal. The image display data that was written into thememory 210 is displayed by the display unit 101 via the D/A converter208. The display unit 101 performs, on a display device such as an LCD,display in accordance with the analog signal from the D/A converter 208.By converting digital signals once converted by the A/D converter andstored in the memory 210 into analog signals by the D/A converter andsuccessively transmitting analog signals to the display unit 101 so asto be displayed, it is possible to realize an electronic view finder(EVF) functionality and to perform through image display (live viewdisplay).

Note that the through image is rephrased into a live view image, and thethrough image display is rephrased into a live view. In other words, theterms “live view image” and “through image” are interchangeable.

A nonvolatile memory 213 is, for example, an EEPROM, which iselectrically erasable and recordable. In the nonvolatile memory 213,constants and programs, for example, for operating the system controlunit 201 are stored. In this context, “programs” may refer to programsfor executing various flowcharts that will be described later.

The system control unit 201 is a calculation processing device foroverall controlling the entire camera 100, and realizes, by executingthe programs stored in the nonvolatile memory 213, the procedures of theflowcharts that will be described later. The system memory 212 is, forexample, a RAM and used also as a work memory where constants andvariables for operating the system control unit 201, and the programsread out from the nonvolatile memory 213 are expanded. The systemcontrol unit 201 controls the memory 210, the D/A converter 208, thedisplay unit 101, and the like, so as to perform display control.

A system timer 211 is a timer circuit for measuring time periods forvarious types of controls and the time of an integrated clock.

A mode switching button 103, a first shutter switch 102 a, a secondshutter switch 102 b, and the operation units 104 are operation membersfor inputting various types of instructions into the system control unit201.

The mode switching button 103 switches the operation mode of the systemcontrol unit 201 to any of a still image shooting mode, a moving imagerecording mode, and a reproduction mode. The still image shooting modeincludes an automatic shooting mode, an automatic scene determinationmode, a manual mode, various types of scene modes in which differentsettings are configured for individual shooting scenes, a program AEmode, a custom mode, and the like. Using the mode switching button 103,the mode is directly switched to any of the plurality of modes includedin the still image shooting mode. Alternatively, it is also possible toswitch, using the mode switching button 103, to the still image shootingmode and then to switch, using another operation member, to any of theplurality of modes included in the still image shooting mode. Similarly,also the moving image recording mode may include a plurality of modes.

While the shutter button 102 provided on the camera 100 is beingoperated, that is, pressed half-way (the shooting preparationinstruction), the first shutter switch 102 a is turned on and generatesa first shutter switch signal SW1. Upon receiving the first shutterswitch signal SW1, the system control unit 201 causes the imageprocessing unit 207 to start the AF (Automatic Focus) processing, the AE(Automatic Exposure) processing, the AWB (Automatic White Balance)processing, the EF (flash pre-emission) processing and the like.

When the operation of the shutter button 102 is completed, that is, theshutter button 102 is pressed fully (the shooting instruction), thesecond shutter switch 102 b is turned on and generates a second shutterswitch signal SW2. Upon receiving the second shutter switch signal SW2,the system control unit 201 starts a series of shooting processing fromreading out the signal from the image capturing unit 205 to writing ofimage data to the recording medium 109 (shooting control).

By selecting various functional icons displayed on the display unit 101,appropriate functions for each situation are assigned to the operationunits 104, and the operation units 104 thus act as various functionbuttons. Examples of these function buttons include an end button, aback button, an image scrolling button, a jump button, a narrow-downbutton, an attribute change button. For example, a notification for amenu switching instruction is given and a menu screen that enablesvarious settings to be made is displayed on the display unit 101 bypressing a menu button. The user can make various settings intuitivelyby using the menu screen, which is displayed on the display unit 101,four-direction (up, down, left, right) buttons and a SET button.

Included among the operation units 104 is also a touch panel as a touchdetecting unit capable of detecting a touch operation on the displayunit 101. The touch panel and the display unit 101 can be constructed asa single integrated unit. For example, the touch panel is constructed insuch a manner that the transmittance of light will not interfere withthe display presented by the display unit 101, and it is attached to theuppermost layer of the display face of the display unit 101. Inaddition, input coordinates on the touch panel and display coordinateson the display unit 101 are correlated. As a result, a GUI can beconstructed that makes it possible for the user to directly manipulatethe screen displayed on the display unit 101.

The controller wheel 106, which is a rotatable operation member includedamong the operation units 104, is used together with the directionbuttons as when a selection item is specified. When the controller wheel106 is turned, an electrical pulse signal is generated in accordancewith the amount of rotation, and the system control unit 201 controlseach unit of the digital camera 100 based upon the pulse signal. Theangle through which the controller wheel 106 has been turned and howmany times it has been turned can be determined by the pulse signal. Itshould be noted that the controller wheel 106 can be any operatingmember so long as it is an operating member whose rotation can bedetected. For example, it can be a dial operating member in which thecontroller wheel 106 per se is rotated to generate the pulse signal inaccordance with a turning operation by the user. Further, it can be adevice (a so-called touch wheel) that detects an operation such as therevolution of the user's finger on the controller wheel 106 without bycontroller wheel 106 itself being rotated.

A power control unit 214 is constituted by, for example, a batterydetection circuit, a DC-DC converter, a switch circuit for changing overthe block to be supplied with power, and detects whether a battery hasbeen inserted or not, the type of the battery, and the residual capacitythereof. Further, the power control unit 214 controls the DC-DCconverter in accordance with the detection results and an instruction ofthe system control unit 201, and supplies a necessary voltage for anecessary length of time to each of the units including the recordingmedium 109.

A power supply unit 215 comprises a primary battery such as an alkalinebattery or a lithium battery, a secondary battery such as an NiCdbattery, an NiMH battery, or an Li battery, or an AC adaptor. Therecording medium interface (I/F) 216 is for interfacing with therecording medium 109 such as the memory card or hard disk. The recordingmedium 109 is a recording medium such as a memory card for recordingshot images, and constituted by a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk,or the like.

A pronunciation unit 217 includes a loudspeaker which pronounces thecount-down sound of the self-timer, shutter sounds in synchronism withopening/closing of the shutter, other operation sounds, the sound of amoving image when it is reproduced, and the like.

In addition to the above components, a communication unit fortransmitting/receiving video and sound to/from an external devicecommunicably connected via a wireless antenna or wired cable may beincorporated. In this case, the communication unit is also connectableto a wireless LAN and the Internet, and can transmit an image (includinga through image) captured by the image capturing unit 205 and an imagefile recorded in the recording medium 109 to an external device, andreceive image data and other various kinds of information from anexternal device.

Furthermore, an orientation detection unit such as an accelerationsensor or gyro sensor for detecting the orientation of the digitalcamera 100 with respect to the gravity direction may be incorporated. Inthis case, based on the orientation detected by the orientationdetection unit, it is possible to discriminate whether an image capturedby the image capturing unit 205 has been shot by setting the digitalcamera 100 in the landscape or portrait direction. The system controlunit 201 can add information about the orientation detected by theorientation detection unit to the image file, and rotate and record theshot image.

The digital camera 100 can be used by switching between at least areproduction mode used to reproduce an image and a shooting mode used toshoot an image. The shooting mode includes an auto mode, manual mode,and a plurality of scene-specific shooting modes. The auto mode is amode in which a program installed in the digital camera 100automatically determines various parameters of the camera based on ameasured exposure value. The manual mode is a mode in which the user canfreely change various parameters of the camera. The scene-specificshooting mode is a shooting mode implemented for each shooting scene bycombining a shutter speed, f-number, the status of flash emission,sensitivity setting, white balance (WB) setting, and the like which aresuited to the shooting scene. The digital camera 100 includes thefollowing scene-specific shooting modes (1) to (14). Note that thescene-specific shooting modes are not limited to these.

(1) Water shooting mode (beach mode): a mode capable of performingshooting without darkening a person or the like even on the sea or asandy beach with strong sunlight reflection.

(2) Nightscape shooting mode: a mode specialized in a nightscape sceneto emit flash light to a person and record the background at a lowshutter speed.

(3) Skyrocket shooting mode: a mode to vividly shoot skyrocket at anoptimum exposure.

(4) Underwater shooting mode: a mode to set a white balance optimum forunderwater shooting and perform shooting while suppressing tinges ofblue.

(5) Sunset shooting mode: a mode to perform shooting by emphasizing asilhouette and red.

(6) Portrait shooting mode: a mode specialized in shooting a person byblurring the background so that the person stands out.

(7) Sports shooting mode: a shooting mode to make settings specializedin shooting a quickly moving object.

(8) Snow shooting mode: a mode to perform shooting without darkening aperson even in a snow scene and leaving tinges of blue.

(9) Night & snap shooting mode: a mode suited to clear shooting of anightscape and person without using a tripod.

(10) Spotlight shooting mode: a mode to clearly shoot an object under aspotlight.

(11) Starry sky snap mode: a mode to shoot the starry sky and a persontogether.

(12) Star Nightscape mode: a mode capable of readily shooting the starrysky.

(13) Star trail mode: a mode to record star trails according to thediurnal motion by compositing images obtained by long-exposure shootingin the respective shooting operations of interval shooting.

(14) Starry sky interval moving image mode: a mode to generate afast-forwarding moving image by forming a moving image file from stillimages shot at a predetermined interval.

The starry sky snap mode, Star Nightscape mode, star trail mode, andstarry sky interval moving image mode will be collectively referred toas starry sky modes hereinafter. Note that the starry sky mode as ashooting mode of an upper layer may be set, and then any one of theshooting modes (starry sky snap mode, Star Nightscape mode, star trailmode, and starry sky interval moving image mode) as lower layersincluded in the starry sky mode may be set. The user can performshooting by setting the digital camera 100 to a desired shooting modefrom a shooting mode selection menu (shooting mode setting). All thestarry sky modes are shooting modes for a dark place, which are used toperform shooting in a dark place.

<Starry Sky Mode Selection Processing> Starry sky mode selectionprocessing according to the embodiment will be described with referenceto FIG. 3. Note that processing shown in FIG. 3 is implemented when aprogram recorded in the nonvolatile memory 213 is read out into thesystem memory 212, and executed by the system control unit 201. Theprocessing shown in FIG. 3 starts when the digital camera 100 starts anda starry sky mode selection instruction (screen display) is inputthrough the operation units 104 (by pressing a DISP button included inthe operation units 104) while one of the above-described starry skymodes is set.

In step S301, the system control unit 201 displays a starry sky modeselection screen (FIG. 4B) on the display unit 101.

In step S302, the system control unit 201 determines a selected shootingmode. If the starry sky snap mode has been selected, the processadvances to step S303. If the Star Nightscape mode has been selected,the process advances to step S304. If the star trail mode has beenselected, the process advances to step S305. If the starry sky intervalmoving image mode has been selected, the process advances to step S306.The starry sky snap mode in step S303 will be described later withreference to FIGS. 5A to 5D and 6A to 6G. The Star Nightscape mode instep S304 will be described later with reference to FIGS. 7A to 7C. Thestar trail mode in step S305 will be described later with reference toFIGS. 8A to 8D and 9A to 9C. Note that since a moving image file isgenerated in the starry sky interval moving image mode in step S306, noshutter sound is output in each shooting operation. The user can set ashooting interval (for example, an interval of 1 min) and a requiredshooting time (shooting of two hrs). Even if the required shooting timeis not reached, the user can stop recording by pressing the moving imagerecording button of the operation units 104. Between shootingoperations, a rec review image and an elapsed shooting time aredisplayed on the display unit 101. The review image is not displayed forthe purpose of power saving after a predetermined time elapses. In menusettings, it is possible to set to record a still image together with amoving image.

The user starts and stops shooting of a starry sky interval moving image(Star Time-lapse Movie) by operating the moving image recording buttonof the operation units 104. When the user presses the shutter-releasebutton 102 in a shooting standby status, he/she can shoot a still imageat the same settings as those for moving image shooting. Therefore, itis possible to readily perform exposure adjustment and the like withoutrecording any moving image.

In step S307, the system control unit 201 determines whether the powerswitch has been turned off. If the power switch has been turned off, theprocess advances to step S308; otherwise, the process returns to stepS301.

In step S308, the system control unit 201 executes end processing. Theend processing includes, for example, processing of changing display ofthe display unit 101 to an end status and closing the barrier 202 toprotect the image capturing unit 205. The end processing may includeprocessing of recording parameters including a flag and controlvariable, set values, and a set mode in the nonvolatile memory 213 andinterrupting power supply to parts which do not require power supply.

Upon completion of the end processing in step S308, the apparatustransits to a power-off status.

Note that since the starry sky mode is a mode to perform wide-angleshooting, the system control unit 201 may fix the photographing lens 203at the wide-angle end at the start of processing in the starry sky mode.When the user selects the starry sky mode or one of the starry skymodes, the system control unit 201 may display the following guidance onthe display unit 101.

Information indicating that the selected mode is a mode to shoot thestarry sky.

Advice for performing shooting by fixing the camera using a tripod. (Inthe starry sky mode, an exposure time is long because of shooting in adark place, and thus camera shake readily occurs if shooting isperformed while holding the camera by hands, thereby recommendingshooting by fixing the camera using a tripod. That is, the starry skymode assumes the use of a tripod.)

An instruction for fixing a zoom lens at the wide-angle end to performwide-angle shooting.

<Starry Sky Mode Selection Screen> A screen displayed on the displayunit 101 in the starry sky mode according to the embodiment will bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B.

FIG. 4A exemplifies the starry sky mode selection screen. On the displayunit 101, a shooting condition (shooting setting) information 404 and ashooting mode icon 402 indicating that the starry sky mode is currentlyselected are superimposed and displayed as OSD (display items) on athrough image 401. Furthermore, a starry sky mode icon 403 indicatingthe current shooting mode and an operation method of selecting thestarry sky snap mode, Star Nightscape mode, star trail mode, or starrysky interval moving image mode among the starry sky modes issuperimposed and displayed on the through image 401. The shootinginformation 404 includes icons indicating the current settings andstatus of the digital camera 100 which are the remaining battery level,the recording image quality (compression ratio and image size), and thenumber of recordable images from the left.

The shooting mode icon 402 indicates the shooting mode set in thedigital camera 100 and is displayed at the upper left position. Thestarry sky mode icon 403 represents the currently selected mode amongthe starry sky modes set in the digital camera 100. The starry sky modeicon 403 also serves as guidance indicating that it is possible todisplay a switching dialog for setting one of the starry sky modes bypressing the DISP button of the operation units 104.

FIG. 4B shows a display example of a screen for selecting one of thestarry sky modes in the shooting standby status in the starry sky mode.This screen is displayed when the DISP button of the operation units 104is pressed while the screen of FIG. 4A is displayed.

In the starry sky mode selection screen, guidance 411 of the selectedshooting mode, a mode name 412 of the selected shooting mode, an icon414 of the currently selected shooting mode, and a mode list 413 of aplurality of shooting modes are displayed. In the starry sky modeselection screen, an operation guide 415 for displaying informationindicating that the screen returns to the initial screen shown in FIG.4A is displayed by pressing the SET button of the operation units 104.The user can select an arbitrary one of the starry sky modes byoperating the left or right button (left or right key) of a 4-wayselector included in the operation units 104 while the screen isdisplayed. When the user presses the SET button included in theoperation units 104 while an arbitrary mode is selected, the selectedmode is set. In this way, the user can set an arbitrary one of thestarry sky modes.

With such a screen display, for example, it is possible to readilyswitch between the portrait shooting mode and the starry sky mode, andto select the starry sky snap mode, Star Nightscape mode, star trailmode, or starry sky interval moving image mode among the starry skymodes.

<Starry Sky Snap Mode> Processing in the starry sky snap mode in stepS303 of FIG. 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5A to 5D.

In step S500, the system control unit 201 displays the initial screen(FIG. 6A) of the starry sky snap mode on the display unit 101.

In step S501, the system control unit 201 determines whether theelectronic flash 113 is exposed. If the electronic flash 113 is exposed,the process advances to step S502, and guidance “please pull upelectronic flash” shown in FIG. 6A is set in a non-display status. Onthe other hand, if the electronic flash 113 is not exposed, the processadvances to step S503.

In step S503, the system control unit 201 determines whether the DISPbutton of the operation units 104 has been pressed to perform anoperation of selecting another starry sky mode. If the DISP button hasbeen pressed, the process advances to step S504, and the starry sky modeselection processing described with reference to FIG. 3 is performed. Ifno DISP button has been pressed, the process advances to step S505.

In step S505, the system control unit 201 determines whether a menuscreen has been displayed by a user operation and an operation ofswitching ON/OFF of dark place display has been performed using a menuitem of dark place display (a display mode for a dark place). If aswitching operation has been performed, the process advances to stepS506, and dark place display setting switching processing is executed.If no switching operation has been performed, the process advances tostep S507. Note that dark place display is settable by a menu item evenin a mode other than the starry sky mode, such as the program AE mode,aperture priority mode, shutter-speed priority mode, manual mode,nightscape shooting mode, or skyrocket shooting mode which assumesshooting in a dark place. FIG. 6B shows a display example of the screenin the shooting standby status when the dark place display setting isON. FIG. 6C shows a display example of the screen in the shootingstandby status when the dark place display setting is OFF. Note that acase in which ON/OFF of the dark place display setting is switched by auser operation has been explained. However, ON/OFF of the dark placedisplay setting may be automatically switched by detecting the ambientenvironment. If, for example, a dark place is determined since theluminance of a shot through image is low, the dark place display settingmay be automatically turned on. If no dark place is determined since theluminance of the through image is high, the dark place display settingmay be automatically turned off.

In step S507, the system control unit 201 determines whether a whitebalance correction operation has been performed through the operationunits 104. If a white balance correction operation has been performed,the process advances to step S508, and a white balance correctionsetting is made. FIG. 6D exemplifies a setting screen at the time ofwhite balance correction. If no white balance correction operation hasbeen performed, the process advances to step S509.

In step S508, the system control unit 201 holds, in the memory 210, awhite balance correction value set through the operation units 104, andcontrols to apply the correction value to the image capturing unit 205and the image processing unit 207. With this processing, an imageobtained by reflecting white balance correction is displayed on thedisplay unit 101.

In step S509, the system control unit 201 determines whether an exposurecorrection operation has been performed through the operation units 104.If an exposure correction operation has been performed, the processadvances to step S510, and an exposure correction setting is made. If noexposure correction operation has been performed, the process advancesto step S511.

In step S510, the system control unit 201 holds, in the memory 210, anexposure correction value set through the operation units 104, andcontrols to apply the correction value to the image capturing unit 205and the image processing unit 207, thereby displaying, on the displayunit 101, an image obtained by reflecting exposure correction.

In step S511, the system control unit 201 determines whether aself-timer setting operation has been performed through the operationunits 104. If a self-timer setting operation has been performed, theprocess advances to step S510, and a self-timer setting is madeaccording to the setting operation. If no self-timer setting operationhas been performed, the process advances to step S513.

In step S512, the system control unit 201 holds, in the memory 210,self-timer setting seconds set through the operation units 104. Notethat the setting seconds held in the memory 210 may be recorded in thenonvolatile memory 213 upon power-off, and the setting may be maintainedat the next activation timing.

The self-timer setting includes:

a 2-second timer (a first time) mainly used for the purpose of camerashake prevention;

a 10-second timer (a second time) mainly used to gain time for thephotographer to move into the shooting range so as to be shot as anobject; and

a custom timer used to arbitrarily set a shooting interval and thenumber of images to be shot.

Note that shooting in the starry sky mode is often performed in a darkplace, and thus a shutter speed is often set low (an exposure time isset long). Consequently, a camera shake readily occurs. It is,therefore, assumed that self-timer shooting is often performed in thestarry sky mode to prevent a camera shake. In the starry sky mode, thesetting status of the self-timer is recorded as a starry sky modesetting in the nonvolatile memory 213 to maintain the same self-timersetting at the next activation timing of the starry sky mode afterpower-off. This processing enables the user who basically usesself-timer shooting in the starry sky mode to omit the labor to performa self-timer setting operation every time the starry sky mode isactivated. The self-timer setting for the starry sky mode is not usedwhen a shooting mode other than the starry sky mode is activated. Also,in a shooting mode other than the starry sky mode, the self-timersetting is not recorded in the nonvolatile memory 213. That is, at thenext activation timing after power-off, the self-timer setting is setOFF as an initial setting irrespective of the previous setting. This canprevent a situation in which at the next power-on timing at which ashooting scene has probably changed, self-timer shooting is performedwithout intention since self-timer shooting was performed beforepower-off, and thus the best opportunity for shooting is missed.

In step S513, the system control unit 201 determines whether a firstshutter switch signal SW1 has been turned on by pressing theshutter-release button 102 halfway. If the first shutter switch signalSW1 has been turned on, the process advances to step S514; otherwise,the process returns to step S500.

In step S514, the system control unit 201 determines whether a secondshutter switch signal SW2 has been turned on by fully pressing theshutter-release button 102. If the second shutter switch signal SW2 hasbeen turned on, the process advances to step S516; otherwise, theprocess advances to step S515.

In step S515, the system control unit 201 determines whether the firstshutter switch signal SW1 has been turned on by pressing theshutter-release button 102 halfway. If the first shutter switch signalSW1 has been turned on, the process returns to step S514; otherwise, theprocess returns to step S500.

In step S516, the system control unit 201 determines whether theself-timer setting is ON. If the self-timer setting is ON, the processadvances to step S517; otherwise, the process advances to step S519.

In step S517, the system control unit 201 counts the setting seconds ofthe self-timer according to the self-timer setting determined in stepS516. The system control unit 201 flickers the light emitting unit 112to provide, to the object side, a notification that counting (count-downoperation) of the self-timer is in progress. In the starry sky snapmode, it is assumed that a person and the starry sky are shot in a darkplace at the same time. Therefore, the system control unit 201 flickersthe light emitting unit 112 during the count-down operation of theself-timer, thereby providing, to the person as an object, anotification that the count-down operation is in progress. On the otherhand, in a mode in which only the starry sky is shot in a dark place,such as the Star Nightscape mode, star trail mode, and the starry skyinterval moving image mode (all of which will be described later), thelight emitting unit 112 is not turned on even during the count-downoperation of the self-timer. Note that pronunciation/silence of aself-timer sound for providing a notification that the count-downoperation is in progress is synchronized with the flickering status andON status/OFF status of the LED. That is, when the light emitting unit112 is in the turn-off status, the self-timer sound is not pronounced.

Note that in a shooting mode other than the starry sky snap mode, suchas the portrait shooting mode which assumes that a person is shot, thelight emitting unit 112 is turned on during the count-down operation ofthe self-timer.

In a shooting mode which assumes that a person is shot at lowprobability and which is used in a dark place, such as the skyrocketshooting mode and nightscape shooting mode other than the StarNightscape mode, the light emitting unit 112 is turned off during thecount-down operation of the self-timer.

Instead of determining a dark place based on the shooting mode, inaccordance with the brightness of an object based on a photometryresult, when the object is dark, the system control unit 201 candetermine that shooting is performed in a dark place. If it isdetermined that shooting is performed in a dark place, it is possible toset an operation mode for a dark place, and turn off the light emittingunit 112.

The flickering processing of the light emitting unit 112 may beperformed only when a face/person can be detected, in addition to thedark place determination based on the shooting mode.

It is also possible to implement the flickering processing by combiningbrightness and face detection/person detection.

In accordance with the setting seconds of the self-timer, if the2-second self-timer assumed to be used for the purpose of camera shakeprevention is set, the system control unit 201 may turn off the lightemitting unit 112. If the 10-second self-timer assumed to be often usedto shoot a person is set, the system control unit 201 may flicker orturn on the light emitting unit 112.

In step S518, the system control unit 201 determines whether the settingseconds of the self-timer have elapsed. If the setting seconds haveelapsed, the process advances to step S519; otherwise, the processreturns to step S517.

In step S519, the system control unit 201 determines whether to causethe electronic flash 113 to emit light. If the system control unit 201determines to cause the electronic flash 113 to emit light, the processadvances to step S520; otherwise, the process advances to step S550 ofprocessing in the Star Nightscape mode (to be described later withreference to FIGS. 7A to 7C). With this processing, when the electronicflash 113 is in a storage status (non-use status) in the starry sky snapmode, the same processing as that in the Star Nightscape mode (to bedescribed later) can be performed.

In step S520, the system control unit 201 causes the pronunciation unit217 to pronounce a shutter start sound in synchronism with the timing atwhich the shutter 204 opens. This enables the photographer to confirmthe shooting start timing of the first shooting operation. The shuttersound includes a start sound (for example, “cli”) in synchronism withthe start of exposure, and an end sound (for example, “ck”) insynchronism with the end of exposure. When the user continuously hearsthe start sound and end sound, these sounds sound like “click” whichmimics the sound of a mechanical mirror flip-up operation. Based on theinterval between the start sound and end sound, the user can determinewhether the exposure time is long or short. For example, when the userhears “cli . . . ck”, he/she can recognize that the exposure time islong.

In step S521, the system control unit 201 causes the electronic flash113 to emit light, thereby shooting a person.

In step S522, the system control unit 201 causes the pronunciation unit217 to pronounce the shutter end sound in synchronism with the end ofexposure. This enables the photographer to confirm completion ofexposure of the first shooting operation.

In step S523, the system control unit 201 causes the pronunciation unit217 to pronounce the shutter start sound in synchronism with the timingat which the shutter 204 opens. This enables the photographer to confirmthe shooting start timing of the second shooting operation. At thistime, the system control unit 201 does not cause the light emitting unit112 to emit light. If the light emitting unit 112 emits light towardsthe object side at this timing, light remains on the object side duringexposure of the second shooting operation (step S524) and the thirdshooting operation (step S527) (both will be described later), therebyadversely influencing shooting. The second and third shooting operationsare performed in a dark place without using the electronic flash, andthus the exposure periods are long. If the light emitting unit 112irradiates the object with light during the exposure period, the objectmay be emphasized to shoot no background, or shooting may be performedwhile unnatural color from the light emitting unit 112 is emphasized. Toprevent such situation, a shooting end notification by light emission ofthe light emitting unit 112 is not provided after shooting operations(the first and second shooting operations) other than the last shootingoperation among a series of shooting operations in the starry sky snapmode. As another reason, if a notification of the end of the first orsecond shooting operation is provided to the user, he/she maymisunderstand that the series of shooting operations end at that timingand thus he/she may move. In the starry sky snap mode, shooting isperformed by shooting a person, shooting the background by long-exposureshooting, and multiple-compositing obtained images. However, the userissues only one shooting instruction, and thus may not know themechanism of performing shooting a plurality of times. In this case, ifa notification of the end of the first shooting operation is providedusing the light emitting unit 112, the user may understand that he/shecan move after the notification. As a result, the object moves during along exposure time in the second or third shooting operation, and animage in which the object is blurred is shot. To prevent such situation,no notification by light emission of the light emitting unit 112 isprovided after the end of the first or second shooting operation of theseries of shooting operations, and the light emitting unit 112 is causedto emit light after the end of the third shooting operation, that is,the last shooting operation of the series of shooting operations.

In step S524, to extract the person shot in step S521, the systemcontrol unit 201 shoots the background without causing the electronicflash 113 to emit light.

In step S525, the system control unit 201 causes the pronunciation unit217 to pronounce the shutter end sound in synchronism with the end ofexposure. This enables the photographer to confirm completion ofexposure of the second shooting operation. At this time, the systemcontrol unit 201 does not cause the light emitting unit 112 to emitlight.

In step S526, the system control unit 201 causes the pronunciation unit217 to pronounce the shutter start sound in synchronism with the timingat which the shutter 204 opens. This enables the photographer to confirmthe shooting start timing of the third shooting operation.

In step S527, the system control unit 201 shoots a dark object such asthe starry sky or Nightscape by performing long-exposure shooting(long-time exposure such as shooting with an exposure time of 0.5 sec orlonger).

In step S528, the system control unit 201 pronounces the shutter endsound in synchronism with the end of exposure. This enables thephotographer to confirm completion of exposure of the third shootingoperation.

In step S529, the system control unit 201 flickers the light emittingunit 112 three times to provide, to the object, a notification that theseries of shooting operations (three shooting operations) are complete.When the object does not move until he/she sees flickering of the lightemitting unit 112, it is possible to shoot a photo including the starrysky and person without object blurring. Since a notification that theseries of shooting operations are complete is provided to the objectside by light emission in the dark place, the object away from thecamera can readily, visually perceive the notification, and understandthat shooting has ended. If the object can understand that shooting hasended, he/she can recognize that he/she need not keep posing within theshooting range, and may move or move outside the shooting range. Byproviding such notification after the end of exposure of the thirdshooting operation, there is no influence on long-exposure shooting.Note that it is possible to provide a notification of completion ofshooting by light emission of the electronic flash, a sound,pronunciation, or the like.

It is unnecessary to flicker the light emitting unit 112 in step S529 ifno self-timer setting has been made. In this case, the photographer isnear the camera, and understands the operation status from the shuttersound and the screen display. Even if the camera provides nonotification to the object side, the photographer can signal to theobject. Furthermore, if a person (face) cannot be detected from an imageshot by the first shooting operation (shooting in step S521), it isunnecessary to flicker the light emitting unit 112 in step S529. This isbecause it is unnecessary to provide a notification to the object sideif there is no person as an object.

In step S530, in order to execute noise processing of long-exposureshooting performed in step S527, the system control unit 201 shoots ablack image by long-exposure shooting by closing the shutter 204. Theimage processing unit 207 generates a noise-reduced image by processingthe image obtained in step S527 and that obtained in step S530.

In step S531, the system control unit 201 refers to the current settingstatus stored in the nonvolatile memory 213 or the system memory 212,and determines whether star enhancement processing is ON. Assume thatwhether to perform the star enhancement processing (ON or OFF) can beset in advance according to a user operation in the menu screen. If thestar enhancement processing is ON, the process advances to step S532;otherwise, the process advances to step S533.

In step S532, the system control unit 201 causes the image processingunit 207 to detect bright spots such as stars from the noise-reducedimage obtained in step S530, and execute enhancement processing of, forexample, enlarging the sizes of the bright spots.

In step S533, the system control unit 201 causes the image processingunit 207 to detect bright spots such as stars from the noise-reducedimage obtained in step S530, and execute no enhancement processing.

In step S534, the system control unit 201 causes the image processingunit 207 to extract a person portion from the flash shooting image forshooting a person, which has been shot in step S521, and the backgroundimage shot in step S524. The system control unit 201 composites theimage of the person portion on the starry sky image generated in stepS532 or S533, and records the resultant image in the recording medium109.

In step S535, the system control unit 201 determines whether a recreview setting has been made through the operation units 104. If the recreview setting has been made, the process advances to step S536;otherwise, the process advances to step S540.

In step S536, the system control unit 201 performs rec review display ofthe image data obtained by the shooting processing on the display unit101. The rec review display indicates processing of displaying the imagedata on the display unit 101 for only a predetermined time (review time)immediately after the object is shot so as to confirm the shot image.

In step S537, the system control unit 201 determines whether a histogramdisplay instruction has been issued through the operation units 104. Ifhistograms are to be displayed, the process advances to step S538;otherwise, the process advances to step S539.

In step S538, the system control unit 201 calculates the histogram ofthe luminance of each of R, G, and B from the image data rasterized inthe memory 210, and displays the calculated histograms on the displayunit 101. At this time, if the dark place display setting is ON, thedisplay data of the histograms are changed to display R, G, and B in thesame color. In a normal display status, it is important to display Rdata in red, G data in green, and B data in blue so as to confirm animage immediately after shooting. In a dark place display status,however, since B components are reduced, it is difficult to visuallyperceive the histogram. To solve this problem, in dark place display ona histogram display screen as a screen including display items (OSD)displayed in blue, the R, and G, and B data are changed to the samecolor.

Although details will be described later, FIG. 6E exemplifies a recreview display screen when the dark place display setting is ON and thehistograms are displayed, and FIG. 6F exemplifies a rec review displayscreen in the normal display status when the histograms are displayed.

In step S539, the system control unit 201 determines whether a recreview end condition is satisfied. If the end condition is satisfied,the rec review display is terminated, and the process advances to stepS540; otherwise, the process returns to step S535 to continue the recreview display. The rec review end condition is, for example, that thereview time has elapsed or that the shutter-release button 102 has beenpressed halfway.

In step S540, the system control unit 201 determines whether the firstshutter switch signal SW1 has been turned on by pressing theshutter-release button 102 halfway. If the first shutter switch signalSW1 has been turned on, the process advances to step S514; otherwise,the process returns to step S500.

<Starry Sky Snap Mode Screen> A screen displayed on the display unit 101in the starry sky snap mode according to the embodiment will bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 6A to 6G.

FIG. 6A exemplifies the initial screen of the starry sky snap mode. OSD(information such as shooting conditions) is superimposed and displayedon a through image 600 on the display unit 101. In OSD, guidance display601 for recommending, when the electronic flash 113 is stored, toperform shooting by pulling up the electronic flash 113, and shootingmode display 602 indicating that the starry sky snap mode is currentlyselected are displayed.

FIG. 6B shows an example of a display screen when the dark place displaysetting is ON. On the display unit 101, OSD 611 is superimposed on athrough image 610, and dark place display is performed by executingsuitable color conversion for the dark place by multiplying data by R,G, and B gains. The R, G, and B gains are adjusted when transferring OSD(display items) expanded in the RAM to a VRAM for display.

In shooting in a dark environment such as celestial observation, it isknown that the eyes of the photographer adapt to the dark environment(dark adaptation). Since dark adaptation is readily undone due to lightof a wavelength close to that of blue light, it is effective to displaydata by reducing light of a wavelength close to that of blue light ofvisible light so as to maintain dark adaptation. That is, it is knownthat performing display by suppressing B of R, G, B as color components(performing display by suppressing tinges of blue) can make darkadaptation difficult to undo (suppress interference with darkadaptation).

In this embodiment, only the B components or B and G components arereduced by turning on the dark place display setting, thereby performingdark place display on the display unit 101 in a color like dark orangeor brown. With this processing, suitable color display is performed in adark place, which makes it possible to readily maintain visual darkadaptation of the user.

FIG. 6C shows an example of a display screen when the dark place displaysetting is OFF. On the display unit 101, shooting information issuperimposed on a through image 620, and normally displayed as OSD 621without performing dark place color conversion.

FIG. 6D exemplifies a white balance correction setting screen in thestarry sky snap mode. On the display unit 101, a white balanceadjustment tool 631 indicating that the white balance setting can bechanged from a B (blue) component to an A (amber) component using theoperation units 104 is superimposed and displayed, as OSD, on a throughimage 630.

FIG. 6E exemplifies the rec review screen when the dark place displaysetting is ON and the histograms are displayed. On the display unit 101,OSD obtained by multiplying data by R, G, and B gains (gains whichreduce B and G) for dark place display is superimposed and displayed ona rec review image 640 which has not been multiplied by R, G, and Bgains for a dark place. Especially if B components 643 normallydisplayed in blue in the RGB histogram portion of the histogram displayare multiplied by R, G, and B gains which reduce B, the visibility maysignificantly decrease, thereby disabling visual perception. If, forexample, pixels displayed in pure blue (R=0, G=0, and B=255) aremultiplied by a gain which reduces B to zero, pixels are displayed inblack (R=0, G=0, and B=0) to nullify the difference from the peripheryof the pixels, and thus it becomes impossible to visually perceive thehistogram. To solve this problem, after changing color designation of Rcomponents 641, G components 642, and the B components 643 to the samecolor other than blue (more suitably, other than blue and green), thedata are multiplied by R, G, and B gains which reduce B and G. Forexample, all the histogram portions of R, G, and B are set to white(R=255, G=255, and B=255). After that, if the data is multiplied by again which reduces B to zero, a reddish color (R=255, G=255, and B=0) isobtained, thereby differentiating the histogram portions from a black(R=0, G=0, and B=0) portion other than histogram portions. That is, evenif B and G of a portion which is normally blue and a portion which isnormally green are reduced (that is, the dark place display setting isON), it is possible to visually perceive the portions. Note that suchprocessing of reducing the blue components by specifying the same colorother than blue is executed to perform dark place display of the screenincluding the OSD portion (display items) which is displayed in bluewhen the dark place display setting is OFF, similarly to display of thehistograms. In the screen (the screen of FIG. 6C displayed during theshooting standby status) without OSD (display items) which is displayedin blue when the dark place display setting is OFF, no processing ofspecifying the same color is executed simply because the processing loadwould be heavy otherwise. Assume that the display item which isdisplayed in blue when the dark place display setting is OFF is adisplay item formed by pixels each including a B component of apredetermined value or larger (for example, a tone level of 130 orhigher among 255 tone levels) and R and G components of a predeterminedvalue or smaller (for example, a tone level of 70 or lower among 255tone levels). Alternatively, the display item may be formed by pixelseach including a B component of a predetermined value or larger and Rand G components whose ratio to the B component is a predetermined valueor lower. The display item may be formed by (zero) pixels each includinga B component of a predetermined value or larger without R and Gcomponents. In either case, the display items displayed in blue when thedark place display setting is OFF include a display item displayed inpure blue (R=0, G=0, B=255) as described above, that is, a display itemformed by pixels each including a B component of a settable maximumvalue without any other color components.

Note that in this embodiment, color designation of the R components 641,G components 642, and B components 643 is changed to the same color.However, only the color of the B components 643 (that is, only a pixelportion displayed in blue) whose visibility significantly decreases maybe changed.

It is possible to improve the visibility when dark place display isperformed even if OSD is displayed by decreasing only the gain of the Bcomponents 643 or the gains of the B components 643 and G components642, instead of changing color designation. Note that processing ofdecreasing the gain of the B components (or also decreasing the gain ofthe G components) after changing the color of contents, which arenormally displayed in blue, to a color other than blue when dark placedisplay is performed is applicable to a device other than the digitalcamera. The processing is applicable to any display control apparatushaving a function of decreasing the gain of the B components for darkplace display. For example, the processing is applicable to a portableterminal such as a tablet PC and smartphone which can perform dark placedisplay of a star chart used for teaching at the time of celestialobservation. In this embodiment, a case in which in the screen in whichOSD in pure blue exists, the OSD is displayed by replacing the color bythat other than blue to reduce the B components has been explained. Theprocessing may be applied to a shot image including a large blueportion. For example, as for a shot image in which the area ratio ofpixels strongly tinged with blue is high (equal to or higher than apredetermined value), the pixels strongly tinged with blue are replacedby pixels of a color other than blue, and the G and B gains are reduced,thereby performing dark place display. Assume that the pixel stronglytinged with blue is a pixel in which the ratio of the value of B to eachof R, G, and B values in the pixel is equal to or higher than apredetermined value.

Note that unlike OSD, a shot image includes pixels of pure blue (R=0,G=0, and B=255) at low probability. Therefore, instead of theabove-described processing of replacing the pixels strongly tinged withblue by pixels of another color, processing of relatively amplifying(increasing) the R values of all the pixels of the shot image withrespect to the G and B values may be performed, and then processing ofdecreasing the G and B gains may be executed, thereby performing darkplace display. This also makes it possible to identify pixels stronglytinged with blue even if dark place display of the pixels is performed.In addition, in the processing of amplifying the R values, differencesin density and tint between the pixels are larger than those in theprocessing of replacing the pixels strongly tinged with blue by pixelsof the same color, thereby improving the resolution of the shot image.The processing of relatively amplifying (increasing) the R values withrespect to the G and B values is processing of multiplying each of theR, G, and B values of one pixel by a coefficient, in which an Rcoefficient is larger than G and B coefficients. Even if such processingis performed to multiply the R values of the pixels of pure blue (R=0,G=0, and B=255) by the coefficient, the R values remain 0. This meansthat it is impossible to amplify R, and these pixels cannot be seen whendark place display is performed. As described above, therefore, todisplay OSD including pure blue (R=0, G=0, B=255), the processing ofdecreasing the G and B gains after performing the processing ofreplacing the pixels of blue by those of a color other than blue issuitable over the processing of multiplying each of R, G, and B by thecoefficient by weighing R. These processes may be properly used. Forexample, when dark place display of OSD which includes blue when it isnormally displayed is performed, the processing of replacing the pixelsof blue by those of a color other than blue is executed. Alternatively,when dark place display of a shot image whose ratio of tinges of blue ishigh when it is normally displayed is performed, the processing ofamplifying the R components of all the pixels is executed.

FIG. 6F exemplifies the rec review screen when the dark place displaysetting is OFF and the histograms are displayed. OSD and a rec reviewimage 650 which has not been multiplied by the R, G, and B gains fordark place display are displayed on the display unit 101.

The R, G, and B histograms can be intuitionally grasped by displaying Rcomponents 651 in red (R=255, G=0, and B=0), G components 652 in green(R=0, G=255, and B=0), and B components 653 in blue (R=0, G=0, andB=255) in the histograms.

FIG. 6G exemplifies another representation method for allowingconfirmation of the R, G, and B histograms when dark place display isperformed. Instead of displaying the R, G, and B histograms in the samecolor as shown in FIG. 6E, it is possible to clearly represent thedifferences among R, G, and B while ensuring the visibility by usingshading.

A method of making the difference among R, G, and B clear by changingthe gradation directions is also usable. For example, vertical gradationis used for R, diagonal gradation is used for G, and horizontalgradation is used for B. That is, when decreasing the B gain by changingblue to a color other than blue, the B gain is decreased after thechange to a screen in a display mode in different patterns correspondingto classification by color in the screen before changing blue to thecolor other than blue.

Note that display of the R, G, and B histograms has been explained inthis embodiment. However, the present invention is applicable to displaywhich is difficult to visually perceive when dark place display isperformed since the number of B components is large. For example, it ispossible to deal with this problem by performing the same processing asthat for the R, G, and B histograms when OSD is displayed using the Bcomponents when performing white balance correction.

<Star Nightscape Mode> Processing in the Star Nightscape mode in stepS304 of FIG. 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. 7A to 7C.

In step S700, the system control unit 201 displays the initial screen ofthe Star Nightscape mode on the display unit 101. The display contentsof the initial screen are the same as those of the initial screen (FIG.6A) of the above-described starry sky snap mode except that no guidancedisplay 601 is displayed.

Processes in steps S701 to S714 and S726 to S732 are the same as thosein steps S503 to S516 and S535 to S541 of FIGS. 5A to 5D, respectively,and a description thereof will be omitted. Note that since it isnecessary to perform flash shooting for shooting a person in the starrysky snap mode, it is determined in step S501 whether the electronicflash 113 is exposed. However, since it is not necessary to performflash shooting in the Star Nightscape mode, there is no determinationprocessing corresponding to the process in step S501 in the StarNightscape mode.

In step S715, the system control unit 201 counts the setting seconds ofthe self-timer according to a self-timer setting determined in stepS714. Note that in the Star Nightscape mode, the light emitting unit 112is turned off during counting (count-down operation) of the self-timer,and no self-timer sound is pronounced. Unlike the starry sky snap mode,the Star Nightscape mode does not assume shooting of a person. It is,therefore, unnecessary to provide a notification to the object side byturning on the light emitting unit 112 during the count-down operationof the self-timer. Turning on the light emitting unit 112 may result indisadvantages with respect to a shooting target and shooting situationassumed in the Star Nightscape mode. For example, assume that whenshooting the starry sky or nightscape (night view) in a dark place,there is another person who is viewing the starry sky or nightscape(night view) around the photographer. In this case, if the lightemitting unit 112 is turned on, this may interfere with viewing of thestarry sky or nightscape by the other person, resulting in annoyance.The Star Nightscape mode is also suitable to shoot fireflies. If thelight emitting unit 112 is turned on at this time, this adverselyinfluences fireflies. Also, if there is another person who is viewingfireflies around the photographer, turning on the light emitting unit112 may interfere with viewing of fireflies by the other person,resulting in annoyance.

Similarly, it is not necessary to provide a notification of theself-timer sound. Rather, there may be disadvantages. A dark place scenesuch as viewing of the starry sky, a nightscape, and fireflies is oftenin a quiet environment, and thus the self-timer sound may interfere withpeople around the photographer. Furthermore, when natural living beingssuch as fireflies are objects, a sound may make them escape, therebyavoiding shooting. In the skyrocket shooting mode and nightscapeshooting mode, there may be the same disadvantages. Therefore, no lightemitting unit 112 is turned on or no self-timer sound is pronounced.Note that only light emission (turn-on/flickering) of the light emittingunit 112 may be prohibited, and only the self-timer sound may bepronounced.

Note that even in the Star Nightscape mode, it can be assumed that aperson is shot when the face of a person can be detected from a throughimage being shot and, therefore, the light emitting unit 112 may becaused to flicker in step S715, thereby providing a notification of theoperation status of the self-timer to the object side. Furthermore,since it can be assumed that a person is shot by assuming that thephotographer enters the shooting range as an object when the settingseconds of the self-timer are 10 sec or longer, the light emitting unit112 may be caused to flicker in step S715, thereby providing anotification of the operation status of the self-timer to the objectside. If the setting seconds of the self-timer are less than 10 sec, forexample, 2 sec, the self-timer is assumed to be used not to shoot aperson but to eliminate the influence of camera shake by pressing theshutter.

In step S716, the system control unit 201 determines whether the settingseconds of the self-timer have elapsed. If the setting seconds haveelapsed, the process advances to step S717; otherwise, the processreturns to step S715.

In step S717, the system control unit 201 causes the pronunciation unit217 to pronounce the shutter start sound in synchronism with the timingat which the shutter 204 opens. This enables the photographer to confirmthe shooting start timing. Note that if the silence setting has beenmade in advance in the menu screen or the like, the shutter sound is notpronounced.

In step S718, the system control unit 201 performs shooting with longexposure.

In step S719, the system control unit 201 causes the pronunciation unit217 to pronounce the shutter end sound in synchronism with the end ofexposure. This enables the photographer to confirm completion ofexposure. If the silence setting has been made in advance in the menuscreen or the like, the shutter sound is not pronounced. Also, thesystem control unit 201 does not turn on the light emitting unit 112,thereby providing no notification of completion of shooting. Asdescribed above, it is unnecessary to provide a notification to theobject side, and turning on the light emitting unit 112 in a dark placemay result in disadvantages.

In step S720, the system control unit 201 shoots a black image bylong-exposure shooting by closing the shutter 204 in order to executenoise processing of long-exposure shooting performed in step S718. Theimage processing unit 207 generates a noise-reduced image by processingthe image obtained in step S718 and that obtained in step S720.

In step S721, the system control unit 201 refers to the current settingstatus stored in the nonvolatile memory 213 or the system memory 212,and determines whether star enhancement processing is ON. If the starenhancement processing is ON, the process advances to step S722;otherwise, the process advances to step S723.

In step S722, the system control unit 201 causes the image processingunit 207 to detect bright spots such as stars from the noise-reducedimage obtained in step S720, and execute enhancement processing of, forexample, enlarging the sizes of the bright spots.

In step S723, the system control unit 201 causes the image processingunit 207 to detect bright spots such as stars from the noise-reducedimage obtained in step S720, and execute no enhancement processing.

In step S724, the system control unit 201 records the starry sky imagegenerated in step S722 or S723 in the recording medium 109.

In step S725, the system control unit 201 determines whether the starrysky snap mode has been set through the operation units 104. If thestarry sky snap mode has been set, the processing shown in FIGS. 5 A to5D is performed; otherwise, the process advances to step S726.

<Star Trail Mode> Processing in the star trail mode in step S305 of FIG.3 will be described with reference to FIGS. 8A to 8D.

In the star trail mode, a still image shooting operation is performed aplurality of times at a predetermined interval in response to oneshooting instruction. A composite image (multiple-composite image) isgenerated from shot still images, and recorded. That is, the star trailmode is a mode in which in response to one shooting instruction,interval shooting in which a shooting operation is performed a pluralityof times at an interval is performed. For the sake of convenience, aseries of processes from the start of shooting to recording of acomposite image will be referred to as star trail shooting hereinafter,and each still image shooting operation performed during star trailshooting will be simply referred to as shooting (or still imageshooting) hereinafter.

In step S800, the system control unit 201 displays the initial screen(FIG. 9A) of the star rail mode on the display unit 101.

Processes in steps S801 to S810 are the same as those in steps S503 toS512 of FIG. 5A, respectively, and a description thereof will beomitted.

In step S811, the system control unit 201 determines whether the totalshooting time has been set using the controller wheel 106 of theoperation units 104. The total shooting time is a time during which startrail shooting is continuously performed, and can be set by selectingone of options of 10 min, 30 min, 60 min, and 120 min by the user. Inother words, the total shooting time is a time scheduled as a timerequired for a series of interval shooting operations. If the totalshooting time has been set, the process advances to step S812;otherwise, the process advances to step S813.

In step S812, the system control unit 201 holds the total shooting timeset in step S811 in the memory 210, and changes the total shooting timedisplayed on the display unit 101. Note that the total shooting timeheld in the memory 210 may be recorded in the nonvolatile memory 213upon power-off.

In step S813, the system control unit 201 determines whether the firstshutter switch signal SW1 has been turned on by pressing theshutter-release button 102 halfway. If the first shutter switch signalSW1 has been turned on, the process advances to step S814; otherwise,the process returns to step S800.

In step S814, the system control unit 201 performs AF processing tocause the photographing lens 203 to focus on the object, and performs AEprocessing to decide the f-number and shutter seconds (exposure time) ofthe shutter 204.

In step S815, the system control unit 201 adds a predetermined timerequired for one shooting process to the shutter seconds decided in stepS814, thereby calculating a shooting interval in star trail shooting.

In step S816, the system control unit 201 divides the total shootingtime set in step S812 by the shooting interval calculated in step S815,thereby calculating the total number of images to be shot in star trailshooting.

Processes in steps S817 to S821 are the same as those in steps S712 toS716 of FIG. 7B, respectively, and a description thereof will beomitted.

In step S822, the system control unit 201 performs noise reductionprocessing for long-exposure shooting, and initialization processing of,for example, setting an initial value in a counter of the number ofshooting operations of still image shooting (to be described later).

In step S823, the system control unit 201 compares the current number ofshooting operations with the total number of images calculated in stepS816. If the number of shooting operations is equal to or smaller thanthe total number of images, the process advances to step S824;otherwise, the process advances to step S834.

In step S824, the system control unit 201 causes the pronunciation unit217 to pronounce the shutter start sound in synchronism with the timingat which the shutter 204 opens. This enables the photographer to confirmthe shooting start timing.

In step S825, the system control unit 201 performs exposure under theshooting conditions decided in step S814, thereby shooting an objectsuch as the starry sky or nightscape.

In step S826, the system control unit 201 causes the pronunciation unit217 to pronounce the shutter end sound in synchronism with the end ofexposure. This enables the photographer to confirm completion ofexposure. Note that the system control unit 201 does not turn on thelight emitting unit 112, thereby providing no notification of completionof shooting. As described above, it is unnecessary to provide anotification to the object side, and turning on the light emitting unit112 in a dark place may result in disadvantages.

In step S827, the system control unit 201 shoots a black image bylong-exposure shooting by closing the shutter 204 in order to executenoise processing of long-exposure shooting performed in step S815. Theimage processing unit 207 generates a noise-reduced image by processingan image obtained in step S825 and that obtained in step S827.

In step S828, the system control unit 201 composites the image generatedin step S827 and the composite image generated and held in the memory210 in step S828, thereby generating a new composite image, and holdingit in the memory 210. This composition processing is multiplecomposition in which the image generated in step S827 and the compositeimage held in the memory 210 are superimposed (which is not panoramacomposition).

In step S829, the system control unit 201 calculates an elapsed timeafter the start of shooting by multiplying the current number ofshooting operations by the shooting interval calculated in step S815.

In step S830, the system control unit 201 adds 1 to the current numberof shooting operations.

In step S831, the system control unit 201 displays the composite imagegenerated in step S828 and the elapsed time calculated in step S829 onthe display unit 101 (FIG. 9B).

In step S832, the system control unit 201 determines whether the timetaken for shooting processing except for exposure of still imageshooting in step S825 exceeds a predetermined time in one shootingprocess. The predetermined time is that used to calculate the shootinginterval in step S815. If the predetermined time has elapsed, theprocess advances to step S833; otherwise, the process returns to stepS832 to stand by until the predetermined time elapses.

In step S833, the system control unit 201 determines whether the secondshutter switch signal SW2 has been turned on by fully pressing theshutter-release button 102. If the second shutter switch signal SW2 isOFF, the process advances to step S823 to perform the next still imageshooting processing; otherwise, the process advances to step S834. Ifthe second shutter switch signal SW2 has been turned on, the processadvances to step S834 to perform end processing of star trail shooting.That is, it is possible to terminate star trail shooting midway by fullypressing the shutter-release button 102.

In step S834, the system control unit 201 records the composite imagegenerated and held in the memory 210 in step S828 in the recordingmedium 109 as a still image file.

Processes in steps S835 to S841 are the same as those in steps S535 toS541 of FIG. 5D, respectively, and a description thereof will beomitted.

<Star Trail Mode Screen> A screen displayed on the display unit 101 inthe star trail mode according to this embodiment will be described withreference to FIGS. 9A to 9C.

FIG. 9A exemplifies a shooting standby screen in the star trail mode. Onthe display unit 101, the current total shooting time and an icon 901operable by the controller wheel 106 or the like to change the totalshooting time are superimposed and displayed on a through image 900 asOSD. In the example shown in FIG. 9A, the total shooting time has beenset to 60 min.

FIG. 9B exemplifies a display screen when reviewing the progress in thestar trail mode. On the display unit 101, an elapsed time 911 in atranslucent elapsed time display area 912 is superimposed and displayed,as OSD, on a composite image 910 generated until now.

Note that the progress review display may be a display shown in FIG. 9C.That is, on the display unit 101, an elapsed time 914 and a totalshooting time 913 are superimposed and displayed on the composite image910 as OSD. Although both the elapsed time and the total shooting timeare displayed, one of them may be displayed. The elapsed time 914 isdisplayed by outline characters, and no elapsed time display area isdisplayed.

The display modes exemplified in FIGS. 9B and 9C may be appropriatelycombined. The elapsed time 911 after the start of shooting is updatedand displayed every time a still image shooting operation is performed,and is not updated during (in the middle of) the interval between stillimage shooting operations. This processing enables the user to know notonly the elapsed time but also the shooting interval based on thedifference between the updated elapsed times. For example, assume that12′34″ is displayed as the elapsed time 911 at the time of acquiring theNth still image, 12′34″ remains displayed until the (N+1)th still imageshooting operation, and then the elapsed time 911 is updated to 12′40″when the (N+1)th still image shooting operation is performed. In thiscase, the user can know that the shooting interval is 6 sec. That is,the total of the exposure time, dark processing time, and otherprocessing time of one shooting operation is about 6 sec. This makes itpossible to indicate the elapsed time and shooting interval by one pieceof time information, thereby saving a display space, and preventing thecomposite image 910 displayed on the display unit 101 from becomingdifficult to see. Furthermore, by performing review display of thecomposite image 910 generated at this time together with the elapsedtime 911, the user can associate the elapsed time with the length of atrail, and estimate the remaining time required to shoot a trail of adesired length.

Note that in the above-described embodiment, a case in which onecomposite image is finally recorded in step S834 has been explained.However, in addition to the one composite image, the still images (thatis, the material images of the composite image) recorded in step S825may also be individually recorded as still image files in the recordingmedium 109. Furthermore, the composite image generated midway in stepS828 may be individually recorded. Individually recording the images asthe materials of the composite image makes it possible to performmodification using an image processing application or the like of a PClater when the composite image shot in the star trail mode is recognizedas a failed image.

The user may arbitrarily set the shooting time. When the user can setthe shooting time, freer star trail shooting is possible.

If there is a limit to a selectable total shooting time due to theremaining capacity of the recording medium 109, an upper limit may beset for the value selectable in step S811 or S812 or a notification maybe provided to the user by changing the color of the icon 901.

Instead of displaying the elapsed time (count-up), the remaining time(count-down) may be displayed. In this case, the user can know not onlythe remaining time from one piece of time information but also theelapsed time based on the difference from the total shooting time set byhimself/herself and the shooting interval based on the difference fromthe updated remaining time, thereby implementing space-savinginformation display.

Instead of time information, the number of recordable images, theremaining time, or the remaining capacity of the recording medium 109may be displayed.

The user may freely set the display mode of these pieces of displayinformation through the menu screen or the like.

Furthermore, when the shooting interval is short, even if display of theelapsed time is updated for each shooting operation, it is difficult forthe user to grasp the shooting interval by instantaneously calculatingthe time difference with respect to the last update operation. When theshooting interval is short (shorter than a predetermined time),therefore, the elapsed time need not be displayed. Alternatively,although the elapsed time is displayed, the elapsed time may be countedup according to the lapse of time irrespective of the interval period(for example, once per sec), instead of updating display of the elapsedtime for each shooting operation, when the shooting interval is short(shorter than the predetermined time). If the shooting interval is equalto or longer than the predetermined time, an update operation isperformed for each shooting operation, as described above.

The above-described method of displaying the elapsed time (an updateoperation is performed for each shooting operation of interval shooting)may be performed in the starry sky interval moving image mode in whichmoving image interval shooting is performed.

Note that a single item of hardware may control the system control unit201, or the entire apparatus may be controlled by a plurality of itemsof hardware sharing processing.

Although the present invention has been elaborated above based onsuitable embodiments thereof, the present invention is by no meanslimited to these specific embodiments and includes various modificationswithout departing from the concept of the present invention. The aboveembodiments are merely illustrative embodiments of the presentinvention, and may be combined where appropriate.

Although the above embodiments have described an example in which thepresent invention is applied to an image capturing apparatus such as adigital camera, the present invention is not limited to this example.The present invention is applicable to, for example, an apparatus bywhich a dark place shooting such as starry sky or nightscape can beperformed. More specifically, the present invention is applicable to atablet terminal, a mobile telephone such as a smart phone, and the like.

Other Embodiments

Embodiments of the present invention can also be realized by a computerof a system or apparatus that reads out and executes computer executableinstructions recorded on a storage medium (e.g., non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium) to perform the functions of one ormore of the above-described embodiment(s) of the present invention, andby a method performed by the computer of the system or apparatus by, forexample, reading out and executing the computer executable instructionsfrom the storage medium to perform the functions of one or more of theabove-described embodiment(s). The computer may comprise one or more ofa central processing unit (CPU), micro processing unit (MPU), or othercircuitry, and may include a network of separate computers or separatecomputer processors. The computer executable instructions may beprovided to the computer, for example, from a network or the storagemedium. The storage medium may include, for example, one or more of ahard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), astorage of distributed computing systems, an optical disk (such as acompact disc (CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), or Blue-ray Disc(BD)™), a flash memory device, a memory card, and the like.

While the present invention has been described with reference toembodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited tothe disclosed embodiments. The scope of the following claims is to beaccorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all suchmodifications and equivalent structures and functions.

This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application Nos.2013-171640, 2013-171641, 2013-171642, and 2013-171714, filed Aug. 21,2013 which are hereby incorporated by references herein in theirentirety.

What is claimed is:
 1. An image capturing apparatus comprising: a lightemitter configured to provide a notification of an operation status of acount-down operation of a self-timer when performing self-timershooting, the notification being via light emission; a memory and atleast one processor which function as: a control unit configured tocontrol the light emitter to provide the notification of the operationstatus of the self-timer in self-timer shooting if a predeterminedcondition that is assumed to be a shooting of a person is satisfied, andto control the light emitter not to provide the notification of theoperation status of the self-timer in self timer shooting if thepredetermined condition is not satisfied.
 2. The apparatus according toclaim 1, further comprising an object detector configured to detect aspecific object from a captured image, wherein the predeterminedcondition includes a state where the object detector is detecting thespecific object.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein theobject detection unit is a face detection unit configured to detect aface of a person from a captured image.
 4. The apparatus according toclaim 2, wherein the memory and the at least one processor furtherfunction as a mode setting unit configured to set one of a plurality ofoperation modes, wherein if the mode setting unit has set a firstoperation mode, the control unit is configured to control the lightemitter to provide the notification of the operation status of thecount-down operation of the self-timer in self-timer shootingirrespective of whether the object detector has detected the specificobject, and if the mode setting unit has set a second operation mode fora dark place, the control unit is configured to control thepresence/absence of the notification of the operation status of theself-timer by the light emitter in accordance with whether the objectdetector has detected the specific object.
 5. The apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein the memory and the at least one processor furtherfunction as a time setting unit configured to set a time of a self-timerin self-timer shooting, wherein the predetermined condition is acondition that the time of the self-timer set by the time setting unitis not less than a predetermined time.
 6. An image capturing apparatuscomprising: a light emitter configured to provide, by light emission, anotification of an operation status of a count-down operation of aself-timer when performing self-timer shooting; a memory and at leastone processor which function as: a time setting unit configured to set atime of a self-timer in self-timer shooting; and a control unitconfigured to control, if the time of the self-timer set by the timesetting unit is not shorter than a predetermined time, the light emitterto provide the notification of the operation status of the self-timerwhen performing self-timer shooting, and to control, if the time of theself-timer set by the time setting unit is shorter than thepredetermined time, the light emitter not to provide the notification ofthe operation status of the self-timer when performing self-timershooting.
 7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the memory andthe at least one processor further function as a mode setting unitconfigured to set one of a plurality of operation modes, wherein if themode setting unit has set a first operation mode, the control unit isconfigured to control the light emitter to provide the notification ofthe operation status of the self-timer when performing self-timershooting, irrespective of the time of the self-timer set by the timesetting unit, and if the mode setting unit has set a second operationmode for a dark place, the control unit is configured to control thepresence/absence of the notification of the operation status of theself-timer by the light emitter in accordance with the time of theself-timer set by the time setting unit.
 8. The apparatus according toclaim 7, wherein the mode setting unit is a unit configured to set oneof a plurality of shooting modes, the first operation mode and thesecond operation mode are shooting modes out of the plurality ofshooting modes.
 9. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein theplurality of operation modes settable by the mode setting unit includethe second operation mode which is a shooting mode for a dark place andis not a shooting mode used to shoot a person, and a third operationmode which is a shooting mode for a dark place and is a shooting modeused to shoot a person.
 10. The apparatus according to claim 8, whereinthe plurality of operation modes settable by the mode setting unitinclude the second operation mode which is a shooting mode for a darkplace and which causes a flash not to emit light, and a third operationmode which is a shooting mode for a dark place and which causes theflash to emit light.
 11. The apparatus according to claim 10, whereinthe control unit is configured to control the light emitter to providethe notification of the operation status of the self-timer whenperforming self-timer shooting in which the mode setting unit has setthe third operation mode.
 12. The apparatus according to claim 7,wherein the second operation mode is a shooting mode which prevents aflash from emitting light.
 13. The apparatus according to claim 10,wherein in the third shooting mode, a plurality exposures of differentexposure periods is performed, and an image is generated bymultiple-compositing a plurality of images captured by performing theplurality of exposures.
 14. The apparatus according to claim 7, whereinthe second operation mode is a shooting mode used to shoot at least oneof a starry sky, a nightscape, and a skyrocket.
 15. The apparatusaccording to claim 7, wherein the mode setting unit is configured todetermine whether shooting is performed in a dark place based on aphotometry result, and configured to set the second operation mode ifshooting is performed in a dark place.
 16. The apparatus according toclaim 6, further comprising a sound device configured to provide anaudible notification of the operation status of the self-timer whenperforming self-timer shooting, wherein when the light emitter providesno notification of the operation status of the self-timer, the controlunit is configured to control the sound device not to provide theaudible notification.
 17. The apparatus according to claim 6, furthercomprising a sound device configured to provide an audible notificationof the operation status of the self-timer, wherein even if the lightemitter provides no notification of the operation status of theself-timer, the control unit is configured to control the sound deviceto provide the notification of the operation status of the self-timer.18. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein even if the lightemitter provides no notification of the operation status of theself-timer, the control unit is configured to control the pronunciationof a shutter sound in synchronism with opening/closing of a shutter. 19.A control method of an image capturing apparatus having a light emitterconfigured to provide a notification of an operation status of acount-down operation of a self-timer when performing self-timershooting, the notification being via light emission, the methodcomprising: controlling the light emitter to provide the notification ofthe operation status of the self-timer in self-timer shooting if apredetermined condition that is assumed to be a shooting of a person issatisfied; and controlling the light emitter not to provide thenotification of the operation status of the self-timer in self timershooting if the predetermined condition is not satisfied.
 20. A controlmethod of an image capturing apparatus having a light emitter configuredto provide a notification of an operation status of a count-downoperation of a self-timer when performing self-timer shooting, thenotification being via light emission, the method comprising: setting atime of a self-timer in self-timer shooting; controlling, if the time ofthe self-timer set by the time setting unit is not shorter than apredetermined time, the light emitter to provide the notification of theoperation status of the self-timer when performing self-timer shooting;and controlling, if the time of the self-timer set by the time settingunit is shorter than the predetermined time, the light emitter not toprovide the notification of the operation status of the self-timer whenperforming self-timer shooting.
 21. A non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute acontrol method of an image capturing apparatus having a light emitterconfigured to provide a notification of an operation status of acount-down operation of a self-timer when performing self-timershooting, the notification being via light emission, the methodcomprising: controlling the light emitter to provide the notification ofthe operation status of the self-timer in self-timer shooting if apredetermined condition that is assumed to be a shooting of a person issatisfied; and controlling the light emitter not to provide thenotification of the operation status of the self-timer in self timershooting if the predetermined condition is not satisfied.
 22. Anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program forcausing a computer to execute a control method of an image capturingapparatus having a light emitter configured to provide a notification ofan operation status of a count-down operation of a self-timer whenperforming self-timer shooting, the notification being via lightemission, the method comprising: setting a time of a self-timer inself-timer shooting; controlling, if the time of the self-timer set bythe time setting unit is not shorter than a predetermined time, thelight emitter to provide the notification of the operation status of theself-timer when performing self-timer shooting; and controlling, if thetime of the self-timer set by the time setting unit is shorter than thepredetermined time, the light emitter not to provide the notification ofthe operation status of the self-timer when performing self-timershooting.